52 Reasons to Vote for Obama: #4 Delivered for the Middle Class

Whether you're PRObama, NObama, or still undecided, 52 Reasons to Vote for Obama gives you all the information you need to share with friends, debate with relatives and decide for yourself as we head toward one of the most important elections of our lifetime. I'll post a new reason in random order every Monday through Friday from now 'til the election.

We see an America where a growing middle class is the beating heart of a growing economy. That's why I kept my campaign promise and gave a middle-class tax cut to 95 percent of working Americans. That's why we passed health insurance reform that stops insurance companies from jacking up your premiums at will or denying coverage because you get sick. That's why we passed financial reform that will end taxpayer-funded bailouts; reform that will stop credit card companies and mortgage lenders from taking advantage of taxpayers and consumers.

-President Barack Obama, Parma, Ohio, September 8, 2010

Barack Obama has delivered for the middle class in ten important ways:

Created 4.4 million new jobs, including more than 500,000 manufacturing jobs.

Cut taxes by more than $1 trillion, including tax cuts for 160 million middle-class Americans.

Extended unemployment benefits to nearly three million people who had been cut off.

To expand on this progress, President Obama wants to use money saved after troops leave Afghanistan to help strengthen the middle class. As the president summed it up during a May 2012 speech:

I don't think we should prioritize things like more tax cuts for millionaires while cutting the kinds of investments that built a strong middle class. That's why I've called on Congress to take the money we're no longer spending at war, use half of it to pay down our debt, and use the other half to rebuild America.

According to the National Economic Council, the most fortunate American households today are paying nearly the lowest federal income tax rate in fifty years. These taxpayers benefit from loopholes, deductions, exemptions, and preferential rates. In 2008, the richest four hundred taxpayers, all of whom made over $110 million, paid an average income tax rate of only 18 percent. According to IRS data, more than twenty thousand households with over $1 million in income paid less than 15 percent in 2009.

That's why President Obama supports the Buffett Rule, named after the famous billionaire investor Warren Buffett. This legislation would ensure that the wealthiest taxpayers -- those who make more than $1 million a year -- pay at least the same tax rate as middle-class families.

We need to continue to rebuild our economy, expand opportunity, and ensure that the next generation has more opportunities than we do. To accomplish these goals, we need everyone to pay their fair share. That's not just good economic sense, that's basic common sense.

While Mitt Romney focuses on cutting taxes for the wealthy and shipping jobs overseas, Barack Obama has consistently delivered for middle-class families. In a 2010 speech the president gave in Ohio, here's what he had to say about his plans:

[I]f [families] work hard and meet their responsibilities, they can afford to raise their children, and send them to college, see a doctor when they get sick, retire with dignity and respect. That's what we Democrats believe in -- a vibrant free market, but one that works for everybody. That's our vision. That's our vision for a stronger economy and a growing middle class.

That's Barack Obama's vision for America.

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